A persistent problem associated with hot melt dispensers which rely on feeding of the rod to cause outflow of molten composition from the orifice is the drooling of cement from the orifice which tends to occur when feeding of the rod ceases and the melt body remains hot. This drooling is wasteful, inconvenient and messy. While the employment of check valves has assisted in reducing drool, it remains highly desirable to provide an inexpensive means for further reducing or eliminating drool. Proposals have been made to physically pull the rod of adhesive out of the melt body to a limited extent, but such proposals require complications in the mechanism of the apparatus with consequent increase in its weight and/or cost and furthermore such proposals are ineffective when there is a discontinuity in the rod between the pulling mechanism and the melt chamber, as may occur for example when the rod is made up of short sticks of adhesive held together merely by pressure exerted to feed the rod, as is the case particularly for example in the case of glue guns normally used by "do it yourself" enthusiasts.
It is one of the various objects of the present invention to provide an improved device for melting and dispensing thermoplastic material supplied in the form of a rod.